Four Roses Distillery: Spanish Mission Style Home of a Kentucky Bourbon

Four Roses is a Kentucky straight bourbon made at the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. It is known for something no other major bourbon brand does: ten distinct recipes built from two mash bills and five proprietary yeast strains. The distillery is owned by Kirin Brewery Company of Japan.

At a glance

• Location: 1224 Bonds Mill Road, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

• Owner: Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd. bought the brand and production facilities in February 2002 and formed Four Roses Distillery LLC

• Distillery building: 1910, Spanish Mission style, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Old Prentice Distillery

• Warehousing and bottling: Cox's Creek, Kentucky

• Master Distiller: Brent Elliott, who succeeded Jim Rutledge in August 2015

• Trail: member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

The story

A proposal and four roses, 1888

The official story says Four Roses began with a marriage proposal and a corsage of four roses. Paul Jones Jr. moved his business to Louisville in 1884, opening an office on Whiskey Row. He trademarked the name Four Roses four years later, claiming production and sales back to the 1860s.

Surviving Prohibition

In 1922 the Paul Jones Company bought the Frankfort Distilling Company. It came with the right to sell Four Roses as a medicinal whiskey during Prohibition, which made Four Roses one of the few bourbon brands to survive it.

Seagram and the years abroad

Seagram bought the Frankfort Distilling Company mainly to acquire the Four Roses name. Four Roses was one of the top selling bourbons in the United States in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Seagram then stopped selling the Kentucky straight bourbon in the US and moved it to Europe and Asian markets, where it became, and the brand says still is, a top selling bourbon in Europe and Japan.

Back in America

Jim Rutledge joined Seagram in Louisville research and development, returned to Kentucky in 1992 and replaced Ova Haney as master distiller in 1995. In February 2002 Kirin bought the brand and facilities, and Four Roses went back on US shelves soon after. Rutledge retired in August 2015 and Brent Elliott took over. Al Young, after 40 years in various roles including distillery manager, became brand ambassador.

The ten recipes

Four Roses uses two mash bills:

• Mash bill B: 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley

• Mash bill E: 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley

Each is combined with one of five yeast strains, labelled V, K, O, Q and F. That makes ten recipes. Each recipe name has four letters. The first is always O, for the Lawrenceburg distillery. The second is the mash bill, E or B. The third is always S, for straight whiskey. The fourth is the yeast. So OESV is mash bill E with yeast V, and OBSK is mash bill B with yeast K.

How it is made

• Water: limestone rich water from the spring fed Salt River at Lawrenceburg

• Fermentation: at least three days, producing distiller's beer at about 8% alcohol

• Distillation: a column still, giving white dog of about 132 proof, then a doubler for a second distillation at about 138 to 140 proof

• Transport: distillate goes by tanker to the Cox's Creek warehouse and bottling facility

• Barrel entry: reduced to 120 proof, below the legal maximum of 125

• Barrels: new charred American oak, 53 gallons each

• Warehouses: single story rack warehouses, with temperature varying about 8 degrees Fahrenheit from top to bottom rack against up to 30 degrees in multi level warehouses, per the brand

• Ageing: a minimum of five years

The core range

Listed on the official site on 20 October 2026:

• Four Roses Bourbon: 80 proof (40% ABV), aged a minimum of 5 years

• Small Batch: 90 proof (45% ABV), aged 6 to 7 years

• Single Barrel OBSV: 100 proof (50% ABV), aged 7 to 9 years

• Small Batch Select: 104 proof (52% ABV), aged 6 to 7 years, non chill filtered

Visiting

The visitor centre has interactive archives of rare and past bottlings and Bar 1888, which serves the ten recipes on rotation plus cocktails. Distillery and bottling facility experiences are available year round and booked online.

• Address: 1224 Bonds Mill Road, Lawrenceburg, KY 40342

• Phone: 502 839 3436

• Hours listed on 20 October 2026: Wednesday to Saturday 9am to 4pm, Sunday 12pm to 4pm

• Several closure dates are listed around the holidays, so check before travelling

FAQ

Who owns Four Roses?

Kirin Brewery Company of Japan, since February 2002.

Where is Four Roses made?

Distilled in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Aged and bottled at Cox's Creek, Kentucky.

How many recipes does Four Roses have?

Ten, from two mash bills and five yeast strains.

Why was Four Roses sold abroad for years?

According to the brand, Seagram stopped selling the Kentucky straight bourbon in the US and focused on Europe and Asia. It returned to the US after Kirin's purchase.

Can I visit?

Yes, the distillery and the Cox's Creek bottling facility both offer booked experiences.

Sources and gaps

Sources read on 20 October 2026: fourrosesbourbon.com home page, Our Story, Our Process and Distillery Tours pages. Wikipedia has no page under the titles we tried. Gaps: the 1910 build date, National Register listing and Cox's Creek detail come from the earlier draft and were not on the pages above; confirm them. Barrel counts, annual production, and tour prices were not found. Hours may have changed. Whisky Clan does not publish tasting notes in its distillery profiles.